In Nov of 2013 we officially opened our doors and we can’t believe 5 years have flown by! Let me take you on the journey from when we started to the brand we are today.

Like with any business, it all started with an idea of I can do better. I was working as an independent contractor (booth rent) on the side I designed clothes under the label Let Em Have It and produced an annual fashion show called Forever Darling. I had been doing hair for 10 years at that point, and wanted something I could be proud to be a part of. All the salons I had worked at either cut corners or had fallen out of love with the industry and it reflected in their business.

After looking at a handful of salons and being unsatisfied, I decided the next time I move to a salon it will be my own. At the time I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I have a reputation for jumping off a cliff and then figuring out how to land later.

Designer on Project Runway Season 9

One night Kyle, and I were having drinks at our favorite bar in Uptown, The Horseshoe. As we were walking there we walked by a vacant space, and I thought this is it. I became madly obsessed with the idea of opening a salon in that space. I took a photo of the location saved it to my phone wallpaper, parked out front and visualized how great it would be. I called the realtor non-stop for 3 months and I finally hired a broker to show me the space. We were able to finally secure a loan, the space and start working. It was a total bootstrap operation, blood, sweat and tears went into our space, I never thought I would know how to hang wallpaper, tile, build shelves or would drink so many beers in the afternoon after all our frustrations with construction.

It was a true labor of love. On top of that we hired what turned out to be a con artist construction company, that had it’s own challenges once we opened the doors!

When we first started we hired booth renters that I worked with at previous salons, because it was less of an unknown and I liked working with them. A year had passed, I was working more behind the chair then I ever had to support our business, and I realized that I opened an expensive place to work, instead of building an empire.

After reading countless books on culture (I listed a few of my favorites), I started to self reflect on what’s important to me, and developed interview questions based on those values. With the help of our team we have narrowed it down to these 5 memorable values that we strive to live everyday. LEHIS (Short for Let Em Have It Salon)

Leadership: Lead by example. Empower yourself to become the leader of your life, hold yourself accountable and live each day with intention.

Education: Never stop learning. Have a beginners mind, stay curious and hungry for knowledge.

Honorable: Do the right thing when nobody's looking. Having integrity in your work and in your life is essential to being a better person. We believe in building a long lasting business and team built on trust and having respect for one another. Always doing what’s right as opposed to what’s easy.

Innovation: Color outside the lines. Learning allows you to create new improved ways of doing things. Set trends, don’t follow them. We embrace individuality, creativity and understand mistakes are there to help us grow.

Sustainability: Keep our planet as beautiful as the hair we create. Having respect for the world that gives us life is vital to our existence.

It was a 3 year journey to develop the type of culture we wanted to have. In 2016 I was faced with a hard decision, if we wanted to grow Let Em Have It to the potential I knew we were capable of we had to have a major shift in culture. This meant we had to hire and coach for our values, I had to grow and challenge myself as a leader aka boss lady, and we had to change our structure from independent contractors to employees.

It’s now 2018 and we have an incredible team that we are continuing to grow, that’s passionate about working as a team to make our customers feel important and pampered. They believe in our values and strive to live them every day. Be patient with yourself, self discovery may take a minute or 5 years, but when you live your truth and inspire others to do the same great things can happen. Thanks to everyone that came out to make our party memorable and to our customers that have supported us and continue to along this journey. -Fallene Wells

Step 1. Always start off with a heat protecting spray (allow to dry if hairs already dry)Section into three sections and prep your hair with the dry texture to give it some 'grit'.

Step 2. Wrap small sections around wand or iron while alternating sections so they're not so uniform while keeping ends out(looks more natural) this is why it's a 'beach wave'.If strand is too curled then pull the piece taut after taking it off heat.

Products used to create this look

Learn how to create beautiful beach waves you see all over instagram!

Check out this quick how to video by our stylist Allie and 3 easy steps on how to achieve this look at home.

Step 3. After all curls are 'cooled' take a wide tooth comb and/or fingers and piece it the way you'd like! It'll drop throughout the day so don't brush too much!

Davines Melu Shield: For protecting all hair types from heat damage up to 450 degrees. MELU Hair Shield helps to provide a barrier between your hair and hot tools for a healthier styling experience.

Davines Medium Hairspray: For long-lasting styles. This Is A Medium Hairspray eliminates frizz, adds structure and provides extreme hold without leaving residue. It is easy to work with and brush out.

Davines Dry Texture Spray: AWARD-WINNING THIS IS A DRY TEXTURIZER

For piecey, defined texture and hold. This Is A Dry Texturizer gives the hair an instant full-bodied and tousled look without weighing it down. Winner of the TotalBeauty.com Awards 2017 for Best Beach/Texture Spray.

Spring is around the corner; lets start it off right by putting a little pep in our skin! The month of March we're highlighting a seaweed, green tea and aloe mask! This mask pumps in the hydration and aids in UV damage.

Seaweed makes skin youthful and radiant, thanks to amino acids. Amino acids are great for the skin because it strengthens the corrective tissue, helping reduce the appearance of wrinkles and keeping them at bay! It contains a ton of potassium helping the skin stay hydrated, especially in rough weather conditions. The Vitamin C found in Seaweed boosts collagen and promotes skin elasticity, filling wrinkles and plumping up sagging skin! It also contains a ton or iron! Iron helps promote blood circulation, which provides the skin with an abundance of oxygen rich blood keeping the skin healthy and supple! A few of my favorite things about seaweed is it's ability to gently detox skin. It's anti bacterial and anti-inflammatory, it's great for sensitive acne prone skin or for dry skin that needs a light exfoliation with out the redness.

Green Tea is beneficial for you inside and out! Green Tea contains tannins, which are an astringent. Astringents are great for pulling toxins from your skin and helping improve skin complexion. Green tea is packed with antioxidants and vitamin K. The benefits of antioxidants are talked about time and time again when it comes to anti-aging. Polyphenols are the main antioxidant found in green tea, and it's best known for reversing UV damage. The Vitamin K in green tea is what helps with reducing dark circles and puffiness around the eye area, who doesn’t love a little eye revitalization? In addition, Green Tea contains catechins, this natural phenol and antioxidant helps to regulate hormones, keeping your skin clear from hormonal acne! -By Carrigain Scadden Esthetician

Seaweed and Matcha are a powerhouse of Micro-nutrients, when consumed seaweed is a great source of omega 3 fatty acids and fiber while Matcha contains an amino acid and even more antioxidants! Benefits include digestion aid and metabolism, boosted thyroid function, and glowing dewy skin especially if you suffer from dark circles. Enjoy seaweed in your favorite dishes, of course sushi is the most popular red algae source, but also try seaweed crunchy snacks or chips or even more beneficial sources such as spirulina and chlorella. Matcha makes for a tasty latte replacement or add to your favorite baking recipe for a new twist on a classic dish! -Annette Solis Health Coach

Naturally I thought what better person to talk about Love and Valentine's Day then yours truly.. ME!

Love is as simple as making someone feel important. Love isn't a thing, it's a feeling of what that thing captures.. you. It's putting your heart and soul into something to make that person know that you took the time to show you care. I'd like to share with you the ingredient's of our compassionate culture, from the companies we support, to the love we have for each other, our customers, our furry friends and our planet.

We believe in creating a community of compassionate people, if we can genuinely love and take care of ourselves first, we can have respect and love for each other and pass that on to our customers. We focus on developing the foundation that makes each person great and allowing that to shine. We learn about becoming the leader of our lives by creating personal values, setting goals and we hold each other accountable. We have a personal trainer teach a fitness class, in salon yoga once a month and a nutritionist teach a class on how to eat healthy for a busy lifestyle.

We praise and support each other and are always learning something new about each other.

Took a shot of our lunch room back wall, seriously what is wrong with Sloan! OMG

Team Rafting trip

Christmas Party at Escapology

Our culture is not confined to our salon, it extends to the companies we support. When we consider supporting a company, we look at all aspects of their business, if they're sustainable, ethical, sustainably and ethically sourced natural and organic ingredients, cruelty free and we consider their culture and how they treat their workers. By supporting other good business we can spread our culture of compassion, and create a movement.

We first took a look at everything in our salon and our team performed a salon audit from the coffee we use to the toilet paper we carry and slowly started to switch out our previous suppliers to better companies that align with our values. It was a journey and didn't happen over night. We are gradually incorporating better practices to create a better way of doing business.

Here are a list of some of our suppliers we would like to spot light, if you haven't checked them out we recommend you do. They are amazing companies that have some or all of these credentials: Sustainable, ethical, fair trade, give back to communities, cruelty free, organic, natural and some are local to Colorado.

We give back to our community and provide opportunities for our customers to shine and be apart of our culture. One of the ways is through our "Gratitude" program. We show our appreciation for people that are working there tails off to help others. I've been in the hair industry for a bit and have had many nurses and teachers over the years. They've talked to me about their love for their students or challenges depending on the day, and patients that they've helped or lost. I've had them fall asleep in my chair from pure exhaustion and it made me so happy that I had the opportunity to pay it forward and give them a piece of pampering and care that they provide daily to others. When we thought about all the people out there that have thankless, selfless jobs that we could give back to and make a small difference by letting them know we care, this is how the Gratitude program was born. You can check it out here

We support and offer our customers opportunities to teach at our salon, cross promote and be involved in community events. We've had fitness classes, style classes, essential oil classes, meet and greets with other local businesses, nutrition classes, recycling and more.

We love and support up and coming artists, giving them the opportunity to sell their work with no fees. I grew up around art, my family was always creating and trying to get their work out there. I used to design clothing, and played around with painting, I understand how hard it is to make a living off your work or just to simply have an outlet to show it. It's such a wonderful feeling to have the opportunity to support up and coming artists in their craft and to keep the art community alive. We have a different featured artist every 2 months, we promote them on our website, through social media and give them a professional outlet to sell and show their work. Check out our current featured artist Kaitlin Ziesmer

Joseph Guadamuz and David Veliz painting our mural

Fallene Age 3ish crazy cat lady in the making

I've always been a crazy cat lady and a huge animal lover! We have 4 rescue cats from Max Fund and it inspired us to donate to this incredible shelter. Our customers knew we were animal lovers and started bringing in bedding, toys, and food which we decided to donate to Max Fund, in return for these donations we offered $5 off products. When someone new joins our team, they get a field trip to Max Fund.

We care and love our planet as much as the people in our chair. Before opening Let Em Have It, I never realized how much you actually throw out. Once we opened we quickly found ways we could be more sustainable. We quickly became a Certifiably Green Salon through the city of Denver, and shortly after also became the 1st Green Circle Salon in Denver. We now divert all but a small trash can in our lunchroom for recycling and as of February we are now composting! Additionally, our care for the planet includes the salon powered through wind and solar, contributions to the Sierra Club and donations to Ocean Conservancy. We believe in keeping the planet as beautiful as the hair we create.

I'm inspired by our team and customers to always evolve and becoming better people for the world around us. To me that is what love is all about.

As part of our effort to use our business to make a positive impact in the world, we have become the 3rd salon in the world to become a Certified B Corporation, this isn't a S Corp, C Corp LLC type of thing. This is a very rigorous journey, B Corporation assesses your company in all aspects. Governance, Workers, Sustainability, Community, and Customers. Here is our Impact report. Visit B Corporation to search for other Certified B Corporations.

Kaitlin's art is fun, whimsical and we wanted to learn more about what inspires her. You can check out her art in person until March 1st! We have originals, prints and pins available for sale, cash or check only please.

Q: Describe the first time that you knew creating art was something you had to do?

A: I think it had to of been in high school. At a certain point I was coming home and working on my own projects all the time and taking friends with me out on "photo excursions." I would also spend any free moment at school in the photo lab because I loved developing my own.

Q: What inspires you at the moment?

A: Right now, I'm working a piece of my sweet, old pup Junebug who passed away a few days after the new year. She was always by my side in the studio, all day, everyday, and I haven't done a piece of her just for myself.

Q: What's your favorite medium to work in and why?

A: For the past year or so, I've been using a lot of gouache on paper. I'm slowly realizing the ways that I can use it like I would with acrylic on canvas, so I'm making bigger and bigger pieces. It's super exciting (to me).

Q: When did you first consider yourself an artist?

A: It's a developing thing for me. I suppose it's been more and more solidified as I've realized more and more that I absolutely would not rather be doing anything else. I'm open to new mediums and ways of getting "out there", but the basic need to make stuff hasn't changed.

Q: What role does art have in our society and culture?

A: It's incredibly important and what's cool is, everybody has their own way of contributing. Whether you are making protest posters for social change, or making children's books, or even just simply making beautiful things for people to look at...it' all contributing in positive ways.

Q: What's the best piece of advice you've received as an artist?

A: Be open and flexible to change and new opportunities. Also, know that every single thing to approach isn't going to work out exactly how you planned.....and THAT'S OKAY

When I started my new position at Let Em Have It Salon I was impressed and inspired by Fallene and the staff to live as my truest self. The supportive atmosphere, brands carried, and love for the environment shone through every aspect of the business and I was so excited to be a part of the team. As a Davines exclusive salon we are often involved with the brand to further our impact and education of the community around us. Davines hosts a campaign named “I Sustain Beauty” that is a call to action for businesses and individuals like us to make impact and with my new team I decided to take this on!

We want to encourage people to take care of themselves, of the environment in which they live and work, and of the things they love.

— I Sustain Beauty

"At Davines and Comfort Zone we believe that beauty can change people’s life. Every day we support this ideal with our products and by creating projects dedicated to people and the environment. The balance between Beauty and Sustainability drives our actions and we want to inspire those around us to do the same.”- http://www.isustainbeauty.com/

Although I am new to the Uptown neighborhood I am a Colorado native and have a deep love for my beautiful home and as we embrace more newcomers each day I hope to bridge the gap between current residents and new ones. My area of focus is public lands and specifically Benedict Fountain Park located on 20th and Tremont, also my front window view at work all day. Benedict Fountain Park is small in size, but beautiful boasting a large fountain, open grass space, and play ground making it a neighborhood favorite for walking dogs, playing on the weekends, and week night volleyball leagues. It’s area of need are constant trash including lack of attention from the city to pick up the trash regularly, loitering, and lack of proper cigarette disposal.

Have cleaned up over 38lbs of trash including cigarettes in 5 cleanup days!

My hope and vision is to bring awareness to the deeper issues surrounding the park and inspire the community to treat the park as their own responsibility and even take some of that on making the park a safe and fun place that brings continued value to Uptown. I have learned so much about this community in the process making new connections and loving the support from everyone around me. I am grateful to work for such an amazing business and have this opportunity to create positive change in my neighborhood.

Steps to being a master of the universe: 2018 Special Edition

As we end the holiday season and ring in the new year, a time full of celebrations with friends and family, eating and drinking everything we can get our hands onto we find ourselves feeling guilty about the many poor decisions we made over the year. Maybe it was the goal you didn’t go for, all of those goodies you couldn’t resist, perhaps even the negativity you did allow into your life? No matter how big or how small it is a time to start fresh and begin again with positive intentions and maybe a detox. Say goodbye to all the doughnuts you couldn’t put down like they were your ex and say hello to a clear skinned, bright eyed, and bursting with love hunk of awesome that you are!

1. Love Yourself!

Wake up like the world is lucky to have you in it and never stop saying kind things to AND about yourself.

Honor Your Body!

2. Honor your body! “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” -Michael Pollan. Chew on some liver clearing ginger or juice up some toxin flushing lemons and grapefruit to boost a detox. Remind yourself to eat some greens, drink responsibly, and sweat a little, a few times a week to keep your bod rockin!

3. Respect the environment!

We use it and need it, but turns out we also live here, and so does your neighbor. Think ahead and think long term. Maybe ditch the plastic and go for some re-usables this year! Make less trash and recycle properly.

Health is not merely the absence of disease, but a balance of mind, body, and soul so as you take your first steps into the coming year remember that you can always try again tomorrow, never forget why you started, and make no excuses!!

Give the Gift of.. Compassion

Did you think we'd say, beauty?A wish for world peace, is a common statement you hear this time of year. It's possible to contribute, make this a reality and the cool thing, it’s not exclusive to the Dali Lama or Mother Teresa. Compassion starts with kindness for yourself, a kindness that fills you up and spills out onto others

Here’s 5 helpful reminders on living a compassionate mindset

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.

It helps prompt you on things to be grateful for. They also have a community to share your gratitude with, and quick things to be grateful for. When you practice gratitude daily you fill up with joy and it combats the feeling of overwhelm and stress.

2. Be Mindful: With all the distractions of every day life and technology becoming more accessible, our minds are overstimulated and it can be a challenge to be present in the moment. We often go through life on auto pilot with out the recollection of how we got to point a to point b. Practice being mindful the next time you're eating. Direct your senses to the experience of eating, smell the aroma, look at how it's prepared, feel the texture on your tongue and enjoy each bite as it nourishes and fills you. Speaking of food check out this great acronym "Snack" on tips to be mindful.

3. Listen More than You Talk:Studies have shown that, whereas speaking raises blood pressure, attentive listening can bring it down. Active listening is not an easy feat, but practice makes perfect. Next time you're in a conversation devote all of your attention and listen with your heart. Check out this insightful Ted Talk on communication

4. Unconditionally Love Yourself: Imagine that you get home from work, you're excited to see your dog, cat, turtle or whatever animal you love. You love your pet so unconditionally, you could come home to find a surprise on your floor or your furniture destroyed, but you still smother them with hugs and kisses and calling them all sorts of mushy nicknames. You deserve to be loved unconditionally and treated with respect, just like your beloved pet. The only one that you can guarantee to receive that love from is yourself. Be kind to yourself!

5. Only Compare yourself with the person you were yesterday. Comparison is a downward spiral of hopelessness. When you compare your life with strangers you will never know if you’re improving, if you compare how you were yesterday with how you are today you can make strides to get better and improve.

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CANCELLATION POLICY: Out of respect for our team and our customers, kindly give us at least 48 hours notice if you need to reschedule or cancel an appointment, this allows us ample time to schedule another client.A credit card is required to hold your reservation, failure to give 48hr notice will result in a fee of 50% of your total service. Be cool and give us a call 720-638-4619, we get it things happen and we'll take all things into consideration.